Jeff Trask and his wife were driving in California’s Central Valley, looking for real estate for a second home. “We were about six hours from our home in Santa Ana, and looking in the Mariposa and Grass Valley areas,” Trask says.
Until recently, Trask had owned a yacht dealership in Newport Beach before selling it and becoming a full-time car hunter. “We were driving with a realtor through the area of Murphys, Angels Camp, and Sutter Creek,” he says, “all old mining towns. We had already spent a couple of days with the realtor when he mentioned, ‘Your wife tells me you’re into old Porsches.’ ”
Trask said yes, he was, and the realtor continued: “Well, I have one of those.”
Trask’s brain switched gears from house-mode to Porsche-mode. “What do you have?” he asked.
“It’s an old convertible that’s been parked since 1979,” the realtor said. “I haven’t driven it since. It’s at my farm—would you like to see it?”
The longtime owner of this Porsche Speedster bought it in 1962 and parked it under this lean-to in 1979. He casually mentioned to Jeff Trask that he owned an old Porsche, and Trask bought it in 2007. JEFF TRASK
Not wanting to appear too excited, Trask casually mentioned that he’d be interested in seeing the car before they left for home the next day. Plans were made to meet the next morning.
“My wife wasn’t too into it because we had a long drive ahead of us,” he says, “but we met the realtor on a street corner in the small town of Galt the next day.”
The realtor’s overgrown driveway was only a mile from Galt’s downtown. “We drove through two-foot tall grass, and when we got to the end, I could see a Porsche-shaped vehicle in a car port under a tarp,” Trask says.
When the tarp was peeled away, Trask saw one of the most desirable Porsches ever built: a 1958 Speedster. Sheltered under the carport, the car appeared to be sound and dry.
Trask whipped out his Porsche 356 reference book, which he never leaves home without. “The numbers totally matched,” he says. “It was an untouched, original car.”
The realtor told his story of owning the Porsche. He grew up and went to college in Oregon. In 1962, he bought the Speedster from the original owner and used it as his daily driver until moving to California to pursue a career in real estate.
“He realized it wouldn’t be very practical to haul clients around in, so he parked it in the carport in 1979, where it sat for almost 30 years,” he says. The realtor told Trask he might be interested in selling it, but only after he spoke with his son.
A few days went by, and Trask wondered if he was going to ever hear back from the realtor. Then the phone rang. “He had spoken to his son, who was not interested in the Porsche,” Trask says. So he made an offer and it was accepted.
“In the world of hunting Porsche 356s, the two Holy Grails are the Speedster and the 550 Spider. I found one: now I’m looking for the other.”
Hopefully another house won’t be an expensive addendum to the Spider.